


Better than Chocolate

by sarai377



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarai377/pseuds/sarai377
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaius had never questioned what Robin was to him, until now.  </p>
<p>Gaius/fRobin</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better than Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xenoshadel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoshadel/gifts).



_There she is_. Gaius freezes, squinting across the dim, rainy field. He can barely make out the hooded figure, perched on the rock all by herself, but he knows it’s Robin.

He sets off in stealth, seizing the opportunity to prove that the two years of peace have not “caused him to lose his edge,” as she’d suggested when the Shepherds journeyed to Ferox’s aid a few weeks ago.

He creeps closer, twirling the lollipop in his mouth, and then crouches as she shifts. His dark cloak blends in with his gray surroundings, and she’s likely not expecting anyone to come looking for her. The rain deadens the space around him, covering any small noises he makes in the grass. When he glances back, she is looking down.

The ground is soft and squishy underfoot, and Gaius nearly loses a boot to the mud, but he makes it across the field without incident.

Robin is deep in thought, staring down at her hands. As he creeps up beside the rock, he has a clear view of her downturned face, in profile. It almost looks like… she’s crying.

Robin… is crying?

He isn’t ready for that, and it causes him to lose focus. He steps into a dip in the ground and falls against the rock with a muted curse. His hands scrape painfully against the wet stone.

She spins, eyes wide for a moment until she recognizes him.

“Oh, Gaius! You startled me.” Robin sweeps at her eyes with one hand and shoves the other beneath her thigh.

A self-deprecating chuckle bursts from him. His palms throb as he stands upright. “Me, too.” This is not the way he’d intended to surprise her. Maybe she is right, and he has lost his edge.

She leans down and offers him a hand, and her genuine smile catches him off-guard. The pendant he made her during the last war dangles from her throat, glittering even in the dim rain, and he feels better at seeing it there. He comes up onto the rock beside her, shifting her removed vambraces out of the way, and they sit in companionable silence for a time. Robin slips her hand into his, her thumb moving in circles.

Sometimes Gaius thinks he knows everything there is to know about her, just by hearing what she doesn’t say.

And sometimes she surprises him.

“What are you doing out here?” she asks after a time. The rain drizzles down her bangs and onto her cheeks. Her wet hair looks silver rather than white.

“I came to check on you, Bubbles.”

Robin crinkles her nose at both the nickname and his concern, but she leans in toward him slightly. “Check on me? I’m fine.”

“Yeah, except that you’re not.” She tosses a hurt look his way, and he clarifies, “You’ve been acting weird since we left Carrion Isle.”

“I see.” Her eyes fill with comprehension.

“C’mon, Bubbles. I know when something's wrong.” He’s not the only one that’s noticed, either.

She sighs and turns her face to the sky. The raindrops hit her eyelids and her small mouth, trailing down her face as she asks the gods for whatever it is she's hoping to find.

Eventually, she speaks. “It's… the Plegian king. He said I was his daughter.”

Another surprise. His jaw drops, the lollipop almost tumbling out of his mouth. “What? The Plegian king is… your father? Does he know what happened to you, where your memories went?”

She shakes her head, and tears build up. “I didn’t want to ask him any questions. Gaius, he is… evil. As evil as I’ve ever known. He was there, that night you came to the castle to attack Emmeryn. I killed him myself… and yet he’s still alive.”

Gaius struggles to recall the dark mage who was with them that night, but he can only remember a glimpse of purple robes and the air of darkness surrounding him. Still, he believes her when she says he is evil.

“This is some heavy stuff,” he admits.

Robin nods.

“I won’t… the Shepherds won’t treat you differently,” Gaius says, meeting her dark eyes with his own green ones. “Who your father is doesn’t matter to me. Hey, I’m nobody, and I somehow managed to make friends with Chrom and Lissa.” _And you_ , he thinks, but doesn’t add it aloud.

“You’re not nobody,” Robin cuts in, always quick to defend him. “But maybe everyone _should_ look at me differently.” As usual, she sees right through his attempt to change the conversation, to make her feel better, and she steers the conversation right back. “Because of this.”

She draws her right hand from beneath her leg and shows him the top of it. Her dark eyes look away, down at the purple design on her skin, rather than at him.

He takes her shaking hand in his own. He’s seen her tattoo before, many times, but he’s never really inspected it. It was always just a part of her. Angry red scratches glare up at him from beneath the tattoo’s many eyes.

“So? It’s just a tattoo,” Gaius says after a moment’s contemplation. He cups her hand between his own, feeling the chill in her skin.

“It’s Grima’s mark,” she says, still not meeting his gaze. “Plegia’s god. What if I don’t belong here, with the Shepherds, with Ylisse?”

“You’re not the only one who’s marked.” Normally Gaius hates bringing up his own tattoo, the reminder of his criminal past, but he just wants her to feel better. “I don’t care, and your past doesn’t matter.”

“But it does! It should. It could mean everything.” She tugs her hand from his grip and leaps to her feet. There in the wet grass she paces back and forth, clutching her hands together and digging her fingernails into the mark.

She whispers, keeping her eyes down, “What if I’m… evil too?”

“Hey,” Gaius says, and motions her closer with a lazy flick of his wrist. “Come here.”

To his surprise, she does. She stands in front of him, finally looking at him with wide wet eyes. He wants to soothe that look from her face until she’s smiling again.

He takes her hands and pulls her in, and a wind blows the trailing tails of his headband against her hair. Robin’s lips part as she draws in a deep breath.

“It. Doesn’t. Matter.” He emphasizes each word with a squeeze of her hands. “You’re a good person, Bubbles… loyal and kind and…” Gaius trails off, his cheeks feeling oddly warm. It’s a little hard to think when she’s looking at him like that - as if he’s the most important person in her world. Even now, her trust and affection still cuts him to the heart. “Chrom took in a thief, and a Plegian mage - two of them, actually. He doesn’t care about my past, and he won’t care about yours, either. You belong here with the Shepherds. You’re our tactician, and we’re going to war. We need you.”

He lets go, and she backs up, staring at him with a strange look in her eye. At least she’s not crying anymore. Gaius twirls the lollipop in his mouth.

“Chrom said the same thing… that I’m me, and that’s more important than being anyone’s daughter.”

“Yeah.” Gaius nods, watching Robin’s hands as she climbs back onto the stone beside him.

After a moment, she leans against him, their shoulders lightly touching. “Thank you, Gaius.”

He nods, feeling his freckled cheeks tingling with warmth. “Anytime. It sure beats sacrificing all of my chocolate to you.”

In spite of herself, she laughs, and something in Gaius’s chest flips at the sound. Her eyes have gone soft and crinkly. “You have chocolate, and you didn’t offer me any?”

Gaius rolls his eyes, but reaches into his breast pocket. He wouldn’t have brought it up if he didn’t want to share. His fingers brush against the small metal object nestled between the sweets, and then he produces a piece of chocolate, wrapped in a pretty foil. Robin accepts it, and for a few moments the only sounds are the crinkle of the wrapper and the soft patter of rain.

This might be his chance, he realizes. They are alone, and tomorrow the Shepherds go back to the Feroxi Port… and all of their responsibilities. But right now, they have a reprieve.  

“Robin,” Gaius whispers, and she looks up so fast that her ponytail brushes against his shoulder.

Her eyes are wide because he used her actual name, rather than the nickname he’d coined years ago.

“Yes?” she asks, softly.

Her proximity has his heart beating frantically in his chest, and he swallows. She looks deep into his eyes, all her attention focused on him.

“I, uh,” he fumbles, and digs his nails into the stone beneath them.

She tilts her head, waiting patiently, but he can’t speak the words he’s rehearsed to himself so many times now. Gaius reaches into his pocket, feeling the twisted metal and the small purple stone in its setting. He’s been carrying it with him for a few weeks now, and he’d been working up the courage to offer it to her - but then the call to arms came, and they were on their way to Ferox, and it was never the right time.

“Gaius… You always know exactly what to say to cheer me up,” Robin says, the hint of a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “And yet you’re tongue-tied now? Tell me what’s on your mind.”

She knows him by his silence, as well.

Gaius draws in a deep breath and exhales slowly. It sounds so silly. He’s always spoken his mind with her, and she’s right, he knows her. They’ve grown close over the years, starting as friends and shifting into something more. They never had a conversation about what they were to each other, but after Gangrel’s defeat they shared a suite in the castle, and the Shepherds accepted it without question.

And yet… with the ring in his hands, he’s afraid she will reject him. He’s putting a name to this thing they have together, and it’s not something he’s ever done before. Nobody ever wanted him before.

Robin waits patiently for him to speak, and it is that almost-hopeful look in her eye that decides it for him.

“Robin… I love you.” The words squeak out of his mouth.

Surprise registers on her face, and she instantly responds, “I love you, too.” It sounds like the most natural thing to say in the world. Her eyes do that crinkly thing again, and it infuses him with purpose.

“I want you to have this.” He withdraws his hand from his pocket and places the contents carefully in her own.

Robin's eyes go wide. “Gaius… is this...?”

“A ring? Yeah. I made it for you.”

He blushes, and she smiles. They both ignore the trembling in their hands.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathes. He takes it and puts it on her left ring finger, his hands lingering on hers.

Her eyes widen, and her jaw drops. “But that’s…”

He chuckles as she trails off. Now who’s speechless?

Robin throws her arms around his neck, drawing him close. He feels the pulse in her neck pounding against his cheek. Gaius wants to sear everything about this moment into his mind - the hushed scent and murmur of the rain, the way her arms feel around him. The way his heart is beating against his chest, equal parts terrified and hopeful.

“Gaius,” Robin chokes, “Are you asking me to marry you?”

“...Yes.”

Robin laughs, a joyful sound that sends shivers down his spine. She draws back, her eyes wide with unshed tears, but he knows this time they are happy tears.

He turns to face her on the rock and takes her hand.

“Will you marry me, Robin?”

She nods, and captures his face, then leans forward and kisses him. Her lips are soft and gentle and perfect.

She tastes like chocolate, and he loves it.

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of Gaius and Robin being best friends, and I wanted to delve into Gaius's issues a little deeper. He tends to divert attention a lot, and I imagine he had a lot of trust and intimacy issues. This was my attempt to explore some of those things. 
> 
> I hope you liked it, and please let me know what you think! Thank you!


End file.
